Nokia Teams With IBM Lotus Notes Email
Two firms said on Thursday that starting next month Nokia smartphones will be able to access IBM Lotus Notes corporate email.
Nokia said the new software will enable more than 80 million users of its smartphones to access IBM’s Lotus email. In September, Nokia signed a similar deal with Microsoft, a leading corporate email provider.
"With this partnership we are able to mobilize close to 90 percent of corporate emails without any extra investments from corporations," Ilari Nurmi, VP at Nokia, told Reuters.
"A lot of companies have servers in place and a lot of Nokia devices on the premises. It’s an important factor in cost-conscious times," Nurmi said.
This year, Nokia dropped development of its own corporate email product, choosing to look for partners instead. They will focus on developing phones for business users to combat BlackBerry’s RIM, the leading mobile email vendor.
"Since revising its business strategy, Nokia has sharpened its focus and is turning up the heat on RIM and Microsoft, particularly in the SMB segment," said Geoff Blaber, analyst with research firm CCS Insight.
"Adding support for Lotus Notes is a huge step forwards. The move gives Nokia the capability to target a much broader market and a segment where RIM has dominated to date."
Nokia warned last week that it expects industry volumes in 2009 to contract.Â
Analysts have tapped smartphones as the market segment with the best hope for growth in 2009.
Nokia sold 1.1 million of its new E71 phones in the third quarter, outselling BlackBerry Bold by five-to-one.
However, Blackberry Bold did not go on sale in the U.S. market until the fourth quarter.
Nokia unveiled last week, a somewhat stripped-down version of E71. The E63 is expected to begin shipping in the coming weeks. This is half of the E71s estimated retail price that was unveiled in June.
Nokia’s Nurmi said the E63 could well outsell E71.
"From affordability standpoint there is clearly bigger potential for this product," he told Reuters.
The position for RIM in the mobile email market was not set in stone.
"This is not a mature market. We are all going to grow the market," said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president of IBM Lotus Software.
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